1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a rail clip for supporting a pad of sheet-like items to be dispensed one at a time, and more particularly to a rail clip assembly that supports a pad in a plurality of manners and provides for ease of shipping the pads and rail clip in an assembled condition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tear-off pads having a plurality of individual sheets, such as refund coupons, are frequently displayed in grocery stores, drug stores or similar retail shops. Unless adequately supported during their display, the pad of coupons will become damaged or will fall away from the desired support. Further, there are different methods of displaying the coupons, depending on the particular store. Therefore, it is necessary to have a sturdy and versatile mounting clip available.
Several types of mounting clips are presently available. One example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,977, issued Richard Krautsack. The Krautsack support includes a head section and a base section. The head section has a pair of ears formed therein and the base section carries a pressure sensitive adhesive with a release liner. A pivot links the sheet-like items to the support such that when rotated, either the base section or head section is above the top edge of the sheet-like items.
In addition, there have been similar supports that have a center tongue section as compared to two outer ear sections, as that of the Krautsack support.
One of the major disadvantages of the previously prior art clips is that when the pad and clip are assembled, the clip extends above the top portion of the pad. Therefore, there is not a neat, rectangular item to be packed. The clip protrudes above the pad of coupons. This makes it very difficult to properly pack the coupons without subsequent damage during shipping.
This problem was addressed in another rail-clip support by Conlan/Golden, Inc. in Davenport, Iowa. Their clip placed the adhesive strip on the same section as the tongue. Therefore, when the clip was rotated in its down position, there was no extension beyond the top edge of the pad of coupons. However, the top edge of the clip, when in the down position, ran parallel to the pad of coupons. Therefore, any rotation of the clip would cause the top edge of the clip to extend beyond the top edge of the pad. This created problems with the assembly of the clip to the pad and subsequent shipping. It was necessary to have the clip properly oriented so as to not have the top edge of the clip extend beyond the top edge of the pad after assembly and before packaging. Further, the tongue member that was formed in the clip was formed by a horizontal cut and two semicircular cuts at each end of the horizontal cut. The combination of the horizontal cut and two semicircular cuts did not provide for a well defined tongue area for subsequent insertion into the rail.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with the prior art devices and provides for a new and improved tear-off pad rail clip assembly.